The Divorce
by Chris.JC
Summary: A/U Kate Becket and Rick Castle meet and marry and experience a few of life's problems
1. Chapter 1

**The Divorce**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Kate's P.O.V.**

 **A/N Declaration I do not own anything to do with this show I just like playing in this garden with the characters.**

 **As this is one of those stories that looks at both characters over the same time periods some of the dialogue is the same or very similar. Please forgive me for this. This covers all seasons as it starts before Joanna Beckett was killed and goes forward to Season 8 as Captain Gates goes back to IAD**

My name is Katherine Beckett and I had just enrolled at Stanford University in August 1997 on the Pre Law Course as my ambition at the time was to follow in the footsteps of my Mother and Father and become a Lawyer my ultimate aim was to become the first female Chief Justice.

The first week was mostly a case of learning to find my way around the campus and the adjoining area.

My roommate was a pre Med. student Lanie Parish who also hailed from New York, she turned out to be a real party goer and soon managed to get us invites to several Fraternity parties that were taking place over the first week of the semester, it was at the second of these that I met HIM.

HIM being Richard Rodgers who would eventually turn into mystery writer Richard Castle. But more importantly to me the Beat Friend that I would ever wish for and also eventually my husband.

I was feeling somewhat abandoned as Lanie had hooked up with one of the Frat. brothers and disappeared, three or four of the guys at the party had tried to hit on me, but none of them were of any interest, until HE came up to me as I sat on the doorstep. Why I decided to let him get past the initial chat lines is a bit of a mystery to me, even to this day, as his lines were no better or worse than the ones I had already heard that evening, it must have been some sort of a chemical reaction. After a couple of hours or so of us just talking; flirting and teasing one another, I discovered he was 22 and was in his second year at Stanford. He asked if he could walk me home, my head told me to turn him down but my heart said 'Yes please,' someone had once told me to listen to my heart. When we got back to my dorm I fully expected him to ask if he could come in, however to my surprise he didn't, after a few more minutes talking he hesitantly said he had really enjoyed our evening together and asked if he could see me the following day, not wanting to seem too eager, because that was how I felt, I thought about it for at least 20 seconds and said "Yes." We arranged to meet the following evening at a local Burger Bar. He then kissed me on the cheek and watched as I went inside.

After the dinner date we were just about inseparable about the only times we didn't see one another was during the night and during our classes, he was studying Classic Literature and I was of course Pre Law.

As we both came from New York we naturally flew home for Christmas together. We had stayed in California for Thanksgiving Day which was when we first slept together, how we had managed to last that long I will never know but that Thanksgiving Day was the best one I had ever experienced.

Christmas was a round of us both meeting and getting to know each others folks. This was when I first met his daughter Alexis who was 3 years old she was being looked after by his mother whilst Rick was away. He had told me one evening early in our relationship that he had been married and divorced to Meredith and that he had a daughter. Surprisingly this didn't freak me out, I had never had much to do with young children and I would have expected it to. When I met her I fell in love with her straight away and we got along like long lost buddies.

The next twelve months seemed to flyby Rick managed to get his first novel written and published and this proved to be a success by rising to No 3 in the New York Times Best Seller lists. When we returned to New York at Christmas we both knew we were in love with one another and it didn't come as a surprise when he proposed after dinner on Christmas Eve, I of course had no hesitation in saying, "Yes" and he placed a beautiful Solitaire Diamond ring on the third finger of my left hand. We announced our engagement on Christmas Day, and told everyone that we were not planning on getting married until I had finished at Stanford.

Rick and I along with the rest of our families celebrated New Years Eve in Time Square.

On January 2 Rick flew back to Stanford as he needed to get caught up on his revision, as he was due to sit his Finals in a few weeks and had been somewhat distracted from his studies during the past twelve months.

On January 9 1999 my world was turned upside down when my mother's body was discovered in an alley, having been stabbed to death. My father and I had been waiting for her to join us for a final meal at our favourite restaurant before I returned to California the following day. When she didn't turn up we both ate and returned home, where we were met by a Detective John Raglan who informed us of her death. After the police had departed and I had managed to calm myself down a little I telephoned Rick. He answered the phone in a cheerful manner, but I quickly cut him off by saying with tears streaming down my cheeks "Rick I need you, the police have just been and told us that my mother was attacked and murdered tonight while we were waiting for her to join us for a meal before I set off back to Stanford."

Ricks immediate reaction was "Kate I am so, so sorry. I really liked your mother and was looking forward to seeing her again when we came home for Easter." He then said "I'll get a seat on the next available flight tonight and should hopefully be with you before lunch time tomorrow.

At 12.0clock the following day the doorbell rang and I went to answer it and there was Rick, he threw his arms around me and pulled me into his body, he then gave me one of the most loving and tender kisses I had ever experienced in my life.

The next week passed very slowly and painfully as arrangements were being made for the funeral. The day of the funeral was a typical day for the time of year as it was overcast all day, although the rain did manage to hold off.

The service and burial took place in the afternoon and I made it through with the strength of Rick by my side, he managed to sooth me and encourage me in the quiet manner he displayed when needed, and I found that I loved him even more for the support he had given me.

Unfortunately for me he had to return to Stanford a couple of days later. I went to JFK with him to see him off and I cried bitterly as I watched his plane climb into the sky and head off West. I felt like I was losing a second person in a month, I had told him that I would return to Stanford at the end of the following week.

When the day came for me to go back I found that I couldn't abandon my Dad as he was already starting down the slippery slope to alcoholism.

I phoned Rick and told him my decision I emphasised that I still loved him and that I still wanted to marry him, I told him about my Dads problem and said that I was abandoning my plan of being Lawyer and was going to transfer to NYU and study Criminal Justice with a view to eventually joining the Police Force.

When Rick returned to New York it was with a First class degree in Classic Literature. He had had another Mystery Novel published which this time had gone to No 1 in the New York Times Best Sellers list. It was also getting attention overseas as it reached No 5 in the Times Literary Supplement Best Sellers list in London.

His Publishers were now wanting him to do Book Signing tours and eventually he had to agree to a 14 day tour of the West coast and Mid America along with Texas and finishing in New York.

As I was in the second year of a three year course, having got a one year credit because of my grades at Stanford, I encouraged him to go. The time whilst he was away passed very slowly and by the time he got back I was getting desperate for his strong arms to enfold me and to take me to his King size bed and for us to make passionate love, this took care of most of the first weekend he was back.

Over the next eighteen months I had to suffer him being away on tour a further five times, however there was always the catching up to look forward to when he returned.

When I graduated from NYU I went, the following week, to enrol at the Police Academy and I was very lucky to secure one of the last two places on the intake for the Fall, As I was being processed I noticed that there was another young woman of about my age also signing up. I thought to my self that she was extremely beautiful and that I wished that I was half as good looking. What I didn't know until sometime later was that she had seen me signing up and had thought to herself, 'I wonder who she is she is incredibly beautiful and should be a Model or a Lawyer rather than a Police woman, I wish I was half as good looking.' The woman I had seen was Jo Martinez who was eventually to become one of my best friends.

As Rick and I had agreed that we would marry as soon as my time at University had finished we started making plans for our wedding which we wanted to take place before I started at the Police Academy, we settled on the last Saturday in August. The day was bright and sunny and the day went off without any hitches.

I started at the Police Academy in the second week of September, the only draw back was that it was a residential course and I would therefore be away from Rick for six month apart from the monthly weekends off. All students where housed in halls of residence and had to share rooms. I was paired with a Jo Martinez, when I met her I recognised as the girl who had signed on at the same time as me. We soon became firm friends. One of the first things I told her was that when I had first seen her I had thought to myself I wished that I was half as beautiful she was. She then told me that when she had seen me, she had had exactly the same thought.

The intervals between the monthly weekends off seemed never ending, when I did get home most of the weekend was given over to my little girl and most of the rest of the time was spent in bed with the love of my life.

At the end of the six month course I finished at the top of the year, with Jo being just 3 marks behind me in second place, this was the first time in the history of the Academy that two women had taken the top two places.

At the leaving ceremony we were informed of our placements, I was allocated to the 12Th Precinct and Jo went to the 11th Precinct. We promised one another to keep in touch. However Jo soon met Sean who she married a couple of years later, for some reason Sean and I never got on and Jo and I started to drift away from another.

When I started at the 12Th as a patrol officer, Mike Royce was assigned as my Training Officer. Over the next two years he taught me everything there was to know about being a cop, rather than the basic paper pushing they taught at the Academy. I threw myself into the work with enthusiasm,

One day I was sent to the records room and I happened to find the file on my mothers killing. This raised my curiosity and I started sneaking into the records room to study it after my shift was over and it was often going up to 11.0clock before I got home. The late hours did not do anything good for my marriage as Rick started sniping at me that he and Alexis only saw me for a few minutes each day as all I wanted to do was drop into bed when I got home and sleep through until the following morning when my next shift would begin. This led to us arguing almost incessantly whenever we were together. he even accused me on a couple of occasions of having an affair with Mike Royce. Which was unfair as I would never do such a thing when I was married.

The situation apart from short spells did not get any better over the next eighteen months. One evening Captain Montgomery discovered me studying my mothers file and gave me a lecture that I needed to put the case behind me as it was ruining not only my marriage but my health as well.

I managed to do as he had said and things started to improve between Rick and I. That was until I was promoted to Detective, I was the youngest woman ever to receive this promotion in New York City Police Force history. I started to throw myself into the work as I felt that I needed to prove myself and I started working late, sometimes I stayed at the precinct all night and I usually forgot to let Rick know. This once again led to us arguing and rowing most times we met. I moved into the guest room but eventually even this became too much and I decided I needed to get away from the Loft as I was afraid of the impact it must be having on Alexis so I moved out and went to stay with Lanie until I found a place of my own to live.

I soon settled into a routine of Home, Bed and Work. Lanie periodically called me out on this and made me have a night out with her and her girl friends, we would talk for long hours mostly about my problems, she kept trying to get me to go back to Rick, but I knew that he wouldn't have me back as we had burnt too many of our bridges in the last few month.

After a year of being apart I one day received divorce papers from Rick citing Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage as the reason for the divorce petition.

The hearing of the petition was set for the end of the following month.

I did not contest the Divorce petition nor did I attend the hearing as I felt that there was nothing more to be said, I told my Attorney that I didn't want to put in any claim against Rick for a split of his assets nor did I want to claim alimony.

Six weeks after the hearing, the Divorce was granted and I was once again single, I cried myself to sleep that night as I felt that I had just lost a major part of my heart and soul.

 **If anyone wishes to make any comments about this please feel free to do so.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Divorce**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Ricks P.O.V.**

 **A/N Sorry folks for the confusion over past few days regarding posting this chapter, this was due to a fault on my computer which I am hoping has been fully fixed (Fingers Crossed!).**

 **Disclaimer I do not, unfortunately, own any thing on this show.**

I am Richard Rodgers,

It was the last week of August 1997 and I was just starting my second year at Stanford University as a student of Classic Literature, There were numerous Fraternity parties arranged to welcome back Frat. Member's and to try and recruit new ones from the Fall intake of students. My policy was not to join any of the Fraternities but to spread myself around those where I got an invite.

On the Friday evening I was attending either the fifth of sixth party that week, I'd lost count already, as they were all very much the same, each one seemed to blend into the other, nevertheless the parties were good for picking up companions of the opposite sex (or the same sex if that was your inclination). I had walked into this party at about 9.00pm and grabbed a beer then I did my usual thing of making my way to a corner of the room to look around the people in attendance. This served two purposes as it allowed me to scan out the girls and also to occupy myself people watching. Whilst stood in my corner I watched two obviously new girls walk in. One was a good looking Afro American girl who latched on to one of the older Fraternity Brothers and quickly disappeared upstairs with him. The other girl was Caucasian about 5ft 9ins with brunette hair which was nearly collar length and a very beautiful face, I noticed she had a small mole on her left cheek. I watched her for about 20 minutes with interest as four boys went up to her and tried to pull her for the night each one got turned down. Eventually she looked as though she was getting bored and fed up with these approaches and she wandered off in the direction of the front door with a bottle of beer in her hand.

My next thought was that I would like to meet her and with luck go to bed with her. I grabbed another couple of bottles and followed her out to the front door, I found her sat on the steps, with a now empty bottle. I approached her and said "Hi it looks as though you need another bottle." and handed her one of the ones I was holding. She looked up at me with the most beautiful eyes I think I have ever seen, they were a mixture of green, hazel and brown, the sort of eyes you could spend all evening just gazing into, I was wrong about the rest of her face it wasn't just beautiful it was the most stunningly beautiful face I had ever seen in my life.

She quietly said, "Thanks." in a voice that even at that stage I knew I could happily listen to for the rest of my life.

We started talking to each other and I found her name was Kate Beckett and that she hailed from Manhattan, she was here at Stanford doing a Pre Law course with a view to becoming a Lawyer and her ultimate ambition was to become the first female Chief Justice. We ended up talking for well over two hours, eventually I asked if I could walk her back to her Dorm and she said she would like that, when we arrived I got the impression that she was expecting me to try and take her back to her room. However I surprised her, and me even more, by not even trying.

I did however say "I have really enjoyed this evening Kate can I see you again tomorrow?"

She didn't say any thing for about 20 seconds. Which were the longest 20 seconds I can ever remember, then she said "Yes.".

We arranged to meet the following evening at one of the local Burger Bars, I then said "Good night sweet Kate, Sleep well." I kissed her on the cheek and stayed to ensure she got inside safely before making my way back to my dorm.

The next few months passed quickly as after our first date we saw each other as much as possible. During this time my first Murder Mystery novel was published and reached No.3 in the New York Times Best Sellers list, We decided to stay in California for Thanksgiving Day which was when we slept together for the first time, The first time we made love was absolutely magical we both took our time to explore each others bodies and savoured one another to the full. Later that night we made love twice more the second time was wild and aggressive on both our parts. The last time was again tender and sweet.

We flew home together to New York for Christmas and the holiday was mostly spent going round and getting to know each others relations. I introduce Kate to my daughter Alexis, who was at that time 3 years old, and they got on like a house on fire, this made me very happy.

The following twelve months passed quickly and we once again flew home for Christmas together. On Christmas Eve after dinner I got down on one knee and asked Kate to be my wife, thankfully she said Yes, and we announced this to the family on Christmas Day we assured everyone we were not planning on getting married until Kate had graduated from Stanford. We all celebrated New Years Eve in Time Square little did we know that this would be the last time we would do this as a complete family.

I flew back to Stanford on January 2 as I needed to knuckle down and catch up with my studying which had been neglected somewhat over the past twelve months as I had spent so much time with Kate.

By January 9 I was back in the groove of studying when I got the phone call. When my cell phone rang it showed a beautiful picture of a young woman on the display it was of course Kate. I therefore answered in a very cheerful manner but was immediately cut off by a very tearful voice saying "Rick I need you the police have just come and told us that my mother was attacked and murdered tonight while my Dad and I were waiting for her to join us for a meal before I set off back to Stanford." I immediately told Kate how sorry I was that I had really liked her mother and had been looking forward to spending some time with her at Easter. I said "Kate I will get the earliest flight I can back to NY and hopefully should be with you by mid to late morning tomorrow"

It was about 12Noon by the time I reached her home, When she answered that door I pulled her into my arms and kissed her as tenderly as I could, I whispered my sorrow at her mother's death. The rest of that week was spent making myself useful and giving as much help as I could in making the funeral arrangements and comforting my wonderful fiancé.

The day of the funeral was gray and overcast but the rain managed to hold off. The funeral was held in the afternoon and I tried to give as much support as I could to Kate and her father.

Due to my tightening schedule for revision I had to fly back to Stanford a couple of days later, Kate came to JFK with me to see me off, I could see she was having trouble holding herself together. When my plane took off I found that I had tears running down my cheeks at having to leave her, as we parted she said "I will be flying back at the end of next week."

On the day she was due to return I received a phone call from her to say that she would not be returning to Stanford as she was getting very worried about he father who was showing a serious drinking problem and she had therefore decided to stay in New York and to enrol at NYU on a 3 year Criminal Justice course with a view to joining the Police Force at the end of the course. It had been agreed that due to her excellent work at Stanford she would receive a one year credit and therefore she would start in the second year rather than the first. She assured me that she was still very much in love with me and was looking forward to us being married when she finished at University.

I worked hard all that Semester studying for my finals. The exams would have been much tougher had I not put in the extra work. When the results came out I had achieved a First Class Degree in Classic Literature.

I had also had a second novel published which made it to No 1 in the New York Times Best Sellers List and it also The Times Best Sellers List in the UK. Because of the success of the book Black Pawn my publishers wanted me to start doing Book signing tours, although I was not thrilled with the idea, with encouragement from Kate that this was now part of my job as a writer I agreed to a two week tour of the West Coast, Mid America along with Houston and Austin in Texas and finishing off in New York.

The tour went well, except that I missed Kate terribly. However when I got back on the Friday we made up for lost time in the bedroom not surfacing for the whole weekend, My mother had agreed for Alexis to stay with her for the duration of the tour.

Over the next eighteen months I had to do a further five tours, but the welcome back from Kate made things all worthwhile.

When Kate graduated with a first Class Degree in Criminal Justice from NYU, she went to enrol in the next Police Academy course in the Fall and was accepted. We then set about making plans for our wedding in August. When the day came around it was as nice a day as we could have wished for, in the middle of a New York summer it wasn't too hot with a nice refreshing gentle breeze to cool things down. The wedding went off well Kate's best friend from Stanford, Lanie Parish, acted as Chief Bridesmaid. My best man was Damien Westlake who I knew from school, he was the person who had encouraged me to become a writer.

In the second week of September Kate started her NYPD Training course which unfortunately was a residential course with only one weekend off a month. We made the best we could of these by giving plenty of attention to Alexis and the rest of the time giving attention to one another, mostly in our King Size bed.

When she graduated from the Academy Kate was assigned to the 12th precinct, her best friend Jo Martinez went to the 11th, I noticed over the next twelve months that they were not spending as much time together. When I asked Kate about this, she said "Jo's now in a relationship with someone called Sean and unfortunately we do not hit it off with one another so I have decided to pull back from her."

Over the next months I began to notice that she was stopping out longer and longer on an evening, when I tackled her about it her answers were somewhat evasive, this started me thinking and eventually I concluded she was having an affair with her training officer Mike Royce and I asked her about it, this led to our first big row as her answer seemed somewhat evasive to me. As the months passed we had more and more arguments, mainly over trivial things and which I must admit many were started by me. These as time passed led to Kate moving into the guest bedroom. After about eighteen months I noticed that she was starting to get home earlier and was once again able to interact better with me and Alexis.

Six months later however she became the youngest female cop in NYPD history to make Detective., This in turn led her once again start staying away from home for longer and longer time and the rows that had mostly died out started again, in one of these I lost it completely and again accused her of cheating on me . The worst part was that I knew in my heart of hearts that she would never do such a thing. However this seemed to be the metaphorical straw that broke the camels back as she moved out of the Loft the following day. As I was fully expecting her to return I didn't make any effort to get her to come home. The longer she stayed away the more my anger increased.

After twelve months of no civilised communication between us, I decided that it was once again time to end another marriage and I therefore petitioned for a divorce on the grounds of Irretrievable breakdown of marriage. The hearing was set for the end of the following month when the day arrived Kate had not contested the petition nor had she put in any claim for alimony. The petition was granted with the Divorce being finalised six weeks later.

On the day I received confirmation that the marriage had been ended I went to bed at night and cried myself to sleep, this was the first time this had happen since my maternal Grandfather had died when I was only eight years old, I knew at that moment that I had lost the only woman that I would ever truly love.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Divorce**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Kate's P.O.V.**

 **A/N Disclaimer I still don't own this series but am glad it was thought up and made its way to our TV screens.**

 **This is where Kate and Rick's stories diverge.**

It was six months since I had been informed that my Divorce had been finalised and that my marriage to Rick was over, in that time I had thrown myself more and more into my work, often staying at the precinct until ten or eleven at night, sometimes I even stayed all night, and caught what little sleep I could in the break room, if we had caught a particularly complex case. On these occasions I would often forget to take meal breaks and would have gone without food if Ryan or Espo hadn't brought a take out into the bullpen and insist that I eat something.

If I did manage to take myself back to my flat early I usually just stayed in, laid on my couch watching reruns of Temptation Lane, Nebula 9 or watching films on DVD, and wallowing in my own misery from the breakdown of my marriage. Lanie periodically would come around and insist that we go out for drinks and dancing in an attempt to get me hooked up with a new guy On a couple of occasions she even set me up with blind dates. I agreed to go out with them just to keep her happy none of these blind dates got a second date.

I knew that I needed something to break me out of my lethargy and to revive my interest in life that I had lost when my marriage to Rick had started to break up. Little did I know that something was about to happen that would make me sit up and start to take notice again.

It all started about 8.45am one Tuesday morning when a car exploded twenty blocks away from the precinct and we were called in to attend. Because of the explosion, the streets around the crime scene had gridlocked so our progress to the scene was slowed down considerably, a journey that should have only taken ten minutes took nearer to forty minutes. When we did arrive we found that the street had been cordoned off and was being worked by the FBI along with Homeland Security, there was even a smattering of CIA there observing. As we tried to access the scene we were told, in no uncertain terms, that our services were not needed as this was an FBI site. We saw that the bombed car was being loaded on to a low loader. I sought out the Agent in charge and informed him that the car should not be removed from the crime scene as it had not yet been processed by CSU. I was told that that would not be happening and that I should step to the other side of the barriers cordoning off the street. As I turned to go I noticed what I assumed was a Federal Agent who was trying to look disinterested and looking somewhat like a spare part, I did notice however that he appeared to be watching me.

When I met up with Ryan and Espo I asked if they had heard anything. Espo replied "CSU had just started to work the scene when the Feds turned up and took over."

I said to them "When we get back to the precinct have a word with CSU and ask them what they found in their short time on the scene."

About an hour and half later after getting back to the precinct they both appeared and asked me to go into the Tech room, Ryan said "CSU had very little time to find anything, but they have managed to reconstruct the explosion." He then played a DVD which showed that it wasn't explosives in the car that had blown it up but was in fact a missile strike. Espo said that CSU had also been able to find what was thought to be part of the missile and they had concluded it had been fired from a Drone.

At that moment I received a phone call asking me and Espo to go to a nearby military base. When we got there and started asking questions we were stone walled by the Officer in Charge. He did not answer one question saying each time, "It is classified and cannot be divulged." At the end of the meeting as we stood up to leave I noticed through an office window at the end of the room that the mystery agent who had been at the site of the explosion was now there. I asked "Who is that man?" and was once again stone walled. On the way back to the precinct I received a phone call from Ryan who told me the Feds had come to CSU and taken away all the evidence we had. I told Espo "It is clear that we were called in this meeting to enable them to find out what physical evidence we had collected and where it was so they could confiscate it."

When we got back to the precinct and the investigations progressed it appeared that the military had not have been responsible for the firing of the missile, this was after the mysterious agent visited the precinct and introduced himself as Special Agent Stacks from the Attorney General Special Task Force he showed us film of the missile strike it was obvious that the drone had been hi-jacked. After a couple more days of investigation it turned out that the person who had hi-jacked the drone and fired the missile was the victim's son, who was upset because his father had started an affair and had left his mother. He was charged with first degree murder.

As I was about to leave for home that evening I was approached by Agent Stack, who asked "Detective Beckett where do you see yourself in five years time, still as a homicide detective or maybe a Captain in charge of your own precinct or somewhere else?" I told him that I hadn't really given it much thought and that in any case I didn't know him well enough to be having such a discussion with him. He then went on to say that there was an opening with the Attorney Generals Special Task Force in Washington DC and he thought that I would be a good fit, he gave me a card with a phone number on and said that if after thinking it over if I was interested in finding out more I should phone the number. I said I would give it some thought..

That evening I poured myself a large glass of my favourite red wine and sat on the couch for well over two hours figuring out what to do, I knew that as far as getting back with Rick was concerned there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell of that happening, as according to page six of the NY Ledger he was now out and about with just about every Bimbo in town, though over the last couple of weeks he had been seen with the same one on more than one occasion. I decided to sleep on my problem and make a decision the following morning.

The next day when I got up and did my morning rituals I made my mind up that I should at least phone the number Agent Stack had given me to see what was out there and to get more information on the position being touted.

I phoned the following day and made an appointment with the Assistant Director of the FBI for the following Monday. On the Monday morning I took the 6.00am shuttle flight to Washington DC to arrive in plenty of time for my interview, which was scheduled for 10.00am.

When I arrived at FBI Headquarters I was interviewed by Assistant Director Freeman. He opened by telling me that this was an opportunity that was only given to a few people and was only given once or at the most twice in a lifetime and he asked whether I wanted to go ahead. I said "Sir that is why I caught the 6.0clock shuttle flight from New York," the interview opened with him asking why I wanted to apply for the post.

I replied "I see this as an opportunity to move on with my career, which has stalled somewhat at the NYPD, and I see it as chance to make my mark on the National stage."

The interview lasted for about an hour and quarter, as it was finishing he told me "If you are offered the position you will be sent to Quantico for an eight week training course, however because of your vast experience with the NYPD it is more than likely you will complete the course within four to six weeks."

When I left I caught the 1.0clock flight back to New York, when I reached the precinct I was told that a body had been found in a water supply tank at a local SRO hotel and I made my way there. When I arrived Esposito asked "Where were you this morning? I tried phoning you but your phone kept going straight to voicemail." I replied "It must have been turned off." I then asked where we stood with the case, he updated me and we went to interview the residents of the hotel.

The following day Captain Gates called me into her office and said that she had just had a very interesting phone call from the Assistant Director of the FBI. I told her that I had been to Washington the previous morning to interview for a position with the Attorney Generals Special Task Force, I down played it and said I would probably not get it. She told me that she had given me a glowing reference and that her understanding was that I was on a shortlist and that the case we were working may well turn out be my last with the NYPD.

The rest of the week passed with us still investigating the murder, we cut a break on the Friday when we found that it had connections to a motoring death, the previous year, of a secretary at a local Law Firm, and that the other person in the car was a lawyer who was being groomed to run for Congress, His half brother it turned out had committed the murder, because the victim had been a friend of the woman killed the previous year and she was looking into the accident to try and prove that her friend had not been responsible.

When we arrived back at the Precinct I received a phone call from Assistant Director Freeman offering me a place on the Task Force, which I accepted. I was told to report to Quantico a week the following Monday to start my training course. I told Captain Gates that I had accepted the job offer and that I was to report to Quantico a week on Monday, I said that I would ensure that all my paperwork was up to date over the weekend.

Six weeks later I was assigned as a Special Agent with the Task Force and I was teamed up with Senior Special Agent Rachel McCord as my partner and mentor. I quickly settled into the routine of the Task Force, we initially were assigned investigations involving Federal Tax and Public Funding Frauds, all pretty routine. Then one week-end, when I had decided to visit my Dad in New York, we were assigned to a major case that involved the theft of a piece of military equipment connected to our National Defence System, during our investigation we found that a former Special Operations soldier had died from an unknown toxin and it appeared that he may have had some involvement with the missing Top Secret military equipment We managed to recover this very quickly, but something was niggling at me that it had been too easy, why would anyone want to steal something that was going to be quickly recovered. I told Rachel of my thoughts and we once again looked at the occupants of the building where the theft had taken place. We found that there was a Top Secret Laboratory in the building developing strains of deadly bacteria in order to develop antidotes. When we contacted them it was found that a batch of toxin had been stolen along with the only bottle of antidote. After investigation it seemed that the current Secretary of Defence, had whilst still in command of a Special Forces unit in the Army, been involved with a cover up of an operation in Iraq to take out one of the top men in El Qaida, in this operation an American female undercover agent had been killed, it turned out her boyfriend, who was a freelance reporter, had stolen the toxin and was going to take revenge on the Secretary of Defence by killing his wife. When the reporter had been charged I asked Rachel what was going to happen to the Secretary of Defence as he had ordered and covered up the death of the undercover agent. Rachel said "I see where you are coming from Kate, you want everything to be black or white, but in this town it very rarely is, its more like different shades of gray and you have to come to terms with that." That was the first case that I worked on where I felt really uncomfortable with the end result.

Over the next two and half years I worked on a number of cases that were of national importance and I usually found that I was having to salve my conscience over the end results,

I had been put in charge of my own team after two years; I must admit that by then I was wondering whether I had made the right decision to leave the NYPD as I was now back in a very similar position to the one that I had been in six years previously.

Then one day I was called into my boss' office and told that a case had come up in New York and that it was being assigned to me and I should pick one of my team to accompany me, and go to the city where I would be based at the 12th precinct. This worried me a little as I knew how the police reacted when any Federal Agents were foisted on them and I was going back to my old precinct, I knew that not everyone had been happy with my decision to join the Task Force.

I picked Agent Eric Davis to go with me. When we walked into the bullpen it felt like I was coming home.

The case we had been assigned was the death of Nineties TV star Charlie Reynolds, he had starred in the youth oriented _2 Cool for School_ comedy series. He had been found the previous morning skewered on the hook of a tower crane that was being use in the renovation of the block of flats where he lived.

The Homicide team were all grouped round the White Board when Davis and I walked in, I said "Good morning I am Special Agent Beckett, in case any one has forgotten, and this is Special Agent Davis, we are here about the Charlie Reynolds case and will be taking over the running of the investigation."

I asked to speak to Captain Gates, but was informed that she was no longer at the 12th, having been promoted and moved back to IAD as Deputy Chief. I asked for the officer in charge as I had a letter confirming our authorisation to take over the enquiries. Esposito stepped forward and said that he was temporarily in charge until a new Captain was appointed, I therefore handed the letter to him. Having read it he confirmed to the homicide team that I was in charge of the investigation. I told them that they should continue to work the case as normal but should report all results found to us.

After settling ourselves in the Conference Room I decided to have a chat with Ryan and Espisito, they confirmed that Captain Gates promotion had been rather sudden and that they did not know who would be taking over as Captain. Apart from this they were rather reluctant to talk to me about how things were at the precinct, I had been hoping to drop a casual question into the conversation as to how Rick was as I had not spoken to him since the divorce, but decided to bite my tongue on that. I did think of going to the Morgue to see Lanie, but decided against it as I felt that I would get a similar cold shoulder. I therefore made the decision to get this case over as quickly as possible and return to DC. It only took us a couple of days to find out that it was one of Charlie's co-stars who had killed him, during our investigation however we did find that a feature film was being made of _2 Cool for School_ , and the film company making the film were hiring equipment from Russia, this seemed rather odd as they could have just as easily hired it locally at a much lower cost. We eventually found that this was being used as a way to smuggle guns into the U.S. The CIA were aware of the smuggling operation and they had been using Charlie Reynolds to spy on the Russian Mafia family as his girlfriend was Svetlana Renko, who was part of the Mafia family who were doing the smuggling.

When I arrived back at the 12th precinct after the arrest, I went in to the observation room to watch Charlie's killer being interviewed, whilst in there I noticed that Svetlana was being interviewed by a CIA agent, in the other interview room. I turned on the speaker and heard him trying to blackmail her into continuing with Charlie's mission. She was protesting that if her family found out she also would be killed. The CIA Agent told her that it would be easy enough to let them believe that she had been working with Charlie who had been working with the CIA, if she didn't cooperate.

I thought to myself the CIA would never do that, but I knew in my heart of hearts that they would. I decided that the only way to save her was to give her publicity and I therefore anonymously leaked the information to the media. I knew that this would be the end of my career as a Special Agent, but if I was honest with myself I also knew I had had to put up with too many compromises which did not sit easy with me.

I made a decision that I was going to resign from the Federal Task Force when I returned to the office on the Monday, which I did with immediate effect. When I had returned to my apartment on the Saturday I had started to pack up my possessions, arranging for a removal company and also ending my lease ready for my move back to New York City.

By 3.0clock on the Monday I had handed in my resignation along with my badge and gun and was on a plane on my way back to New York. I was going to stay with my Dad until I was able to find an apartment. I didn't have any idea as to what I was going to do to earn a living, my first thought was to see whether I could get anything with the NYPD.

On the Tuesday I telephoned Jo Martinez as I thought she was one of the few people in the NYPD who wasn't pissed off with me. I first offered my sympathies over the death of Sean, as I had not spoken to her for over four years, I also wanted to arrange to meet her to catch up with all the gossip, I also wanted to sound her out as to the employment position with the NYPD. We arranged to meet that evening for a meal and drinks.

As I was looking through the Ledger at my dad's I noted that the Angelica were having a Leslie Neilson Tribute month and that the following week's film was _Forbidden Planet_ this was one of my favourite Si-Fi films and I thought to myself I'll go on Thursday, as it is a couple of years since I last saw it. I smiled to myself when I remembered that this was also one of Rick's favourite films.

A/N A number of people have pointed out that Chapters 1 & 2 quite often duplicate duplicated scenes and dialogue sorry but by the nature of the story it was looking at the same scenes and time frames from both Kate and Ricks POV. My apologies if you feel that you have been short changed, from now on POV's should be mostly different though I cannot promising that it will differ completely to the end.

To all those people who have reviewed thank you for taking the time to do so, your comments are appreciated whether positive or negative.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Divorce**

 **Chapter 4**

 **Rick's P.O.V.**

Two days after receiving confirmation of my Divorce from Kate, I decided that I needed to get away from New York for a month or two and I therefore phoned Paula, my agent, and said, much to her surprise, as I normally fought against it, that I wanted to do a book signing tour as I needed a change of scenery and to avoid the risk of meeting Kate and suggested a tour lasting at least a couple of months. She said she would talk to Gina at Black Pawn and would get back to me. I said "You can also tell Gina, that when the tour is finished I will be going up to the Hamptons to write what will probably be the last Nikki Heat book, I had started the series, having killed off Derrick Storm, when Kate was made detective and she and I were still together, I had written 3 books in the series so far.

Paula phoned me back the following morning and said that she had discussed things with Gina and they had agreed to a tour starting in Toronto then across Canada to the West Coast then down to Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego then across the Mid West down to Austin and Dallas in Texas across to New Orleans, then up the East Coast taking in Washington DC and Boston then across to London, Edinburgh Paris, Rome and finishing the tour off by returning to finish the tour in New York. It was being booked to start a week the following Monday and would last for eight to nine weeks. She also told me that Gina had welcomed the fact that I would be starting a new book on my return, but was not too happy about it being the last Nikki Heat novel.

I now knew that for the next 10 days I needed to keep a low profile to avoid any possibility of running into Kate on the street.

The next evening I told Alexis and my mother my plans. Mother agreed to take care of Alexis for the duration of the tour and I promised that I would phone them every evening. I also told them of my plan to go to the Hamptons to write the last Nikki Heat novel on my return, and asked that they come along for the summer months, I envisioned that I would be there for the rest of the summer and part of the fall as I wanted to get the book out in time for the Christmas trade.

I set off on the tour and stayed in Toronto for two nights, in that time Black Pawn had arranged for me to take out to dinner one of the local bachelorettes, they of course made sure that the paparazzi knew about it and that there were pictures in the papers, This pattern more or less continued throughout the Canadian and US part of the tour, contrary to the rumours that were put about I did not sleep with all these women, though I must admit I did with the odd one or two.

When we got back to New York from Boston I was allowed a week off before the European leg of the tour started. One afternoon I decided to risk going for a walk round the neighbourhood and I met Kate's dad, Jim. I felt rather embarrassed, but we greeted each other in a friendly manner, he enquired about Alexis and my mother I said "They are both very well, Alexis is studying hard, I said I don't understand where she got her work ethic from." I then asked "How is Kate?"

Jim answered "She has once again buried herself in her work which she does whenever she has a personal problem and cannot see a solution." After a couple more minutes of idle chat we went our separate ways.

Two days later I set off on the European leg of the tour which was due to last 10 days, In both London and Paris I was given a couple of days off which I used to explore the sights of both capitals.

When I got back to New York I found that Paula had booked me to attend the launch of the new James Patterson book and also the new Stephen King she had also arranged for me to escort one of that year's Top Catwalk models to both events. The papers had a field day with this and practically had me down as marrying her. This was of course nonsense as I was not in the market to try for a 3rd divorce, two had been plenty.

On the Monday morning I got away for my time in the Hamptons. Alexis and my mother were not able to go with me, but it was agreed that they would come up the following weekend as by then Alexis would have finished school for the summer. When I reached the Hamptons I decided to relax for the day and then take a long shower and go out for a meal as I wasn't in the mood to cook for just one that evening. On my return to the house after unpacking and putting all my stuff away, I had an early night with a view to making a start the following day on the new book.

At about 3.15am I woke up shaking from a nightmare. In my dream a woman had been found in an alleyway stabbed, I had looked down at the face and it was that of Kate, I knelt down and put my arms around her and said "Stay with me Kate, Stay with me. I love you. Don't leave me Kate I love you." At that point she looked up at me and tried to say something but all she could do was to draw her last breath. This was the first nightmare that I had had in a long time, I knew that there was no way that I was going to get back to sleep that night. Once daylight started to penetrate my curtains I decided to get up and make a start on what I had planned for the rest of the day.

After breakfast I went out on to the patio with my laptop and my second coffee of the day and made a start on the book. I quite surprised myself as the words flowed much easier and quicker than I thought they would, by mid-afternoon when I decided to call it a day I had completed about two and a half chapters, granted they would need to be edited but nevertheless it was a good start.

For dinner that evening I decided to treat myself to a T Bone steak with new potatoes and mange tout. For the wine I also treated myself to an excellent Chateauneuf-du-Pape, followed by an Ice cream sundae with all the toppings I could find. As it was such a lovely evening I decided to eat outside on the patio.

That night when I went to bed I tossed and turned for a couple of hours before drifting into a restless sleep at 4.0clock I was awakened with the same nightmare as the previous night. This time I did manage to get back to sleep and was able to grab another four hours. This sleep pattern continued for the rest of the week.

By Saturday when Alexis and Mother were due to arrive I found I was getting tense and irritable at the slightest thing. By the time they arrived in the early afternoon however I had managed to get my irritability under control, and the three of us were able to enjoy the rest of the day catching up on the past week. I told them that the new book was progressing nicely and that if things stayed on schedule I would have it finished in about a couple of months ready to send to Gina. I had given myself Saturdays and Sundays off from writing so that I could enjoy the weekends with my family, that night and on the Sunday I managed to sleep through the night without the nightmare so that by Monday morning I had caught up on my sleep somewhat.

On the Monday I again started to write and spent all day on the book, that night the nightmare returned more lurid and frightening than before, this continued all week. By the weekend I was once again growing very irritable and had on three or four occasions shouted at Alexis for no apparent reason I was also very sharp with my mother.

As there appeared to be no pattern to my behaviour I decided I had better book a doctor's appointment to try and find out what the cause was. After a complete examination the doctor could find nothing physically wrong with me and decided that I may well benefit from a visit to a therapist and he made me an appointment for the following day with a Dr Webber who lived and practised in the local area and who was very highly respected in his profession.

When I arrived for the appointment with Dr Webber he took me into his consulting room and we sat down in two chairs facing each other. He opened the session by saying "Mr Castle, can you give me an idea of the problems that you are experiencing and what you are hoping for from these consultations?"

I said "Doctor please call me Rick. I have noticed recently that I am having trouble controlling my temper and also having other anger issues, additionally since I came to the Hamptons to stay I have started having nightmares during the week but not at weekends. I would like to find out what is causing this behaviour and try and find a cure."

He asked "You say you are having trouble controlling your temper and have other anger issues, can you give me any specific examples and say if there is a particular time of the day these appear to be happening?"

I told him that anything could set me off and I didn't think there was a specific time of the day when they occurred. We went on to discuss the issues for most of the rest of the session, towards the end he touched on the nightmares and said. "You say that they happened during the week but not at weekends?" he asked "What do you do during the week but not at weekends?"

I said. "The only thing I can think of is that I am writing a book which will be the last in the series of Nikki Heat books."

He said "Rick we have come to the end of our session time for this appointment, I want us to discuss this matter fully at our next session next week, can I suggest that for the rest of the week you don't do any more writing, and see whether the nightmares continue."

As I left his consulting rooms I settled the bill for this appointment and made another one for the following week.

I didn't do any further writing that week and the nightmares stopped, However when I started writing the following week they reappeared as I needed to finish the book I knew I would have to put up with them. As soon as I finished the Nikki Heat book the nightmares stopped all together.

I continued with the therapy for the rest of the summer and by the time I was due to leave the Hamptons in the fall I felt I knew myself a lot better and was better able to control my feelings.

Once I was back in NY Black Pawn started to arrange the launch party for ' _Goodbye Heat'_ which was the final book in the series. Unlike my own love life I gave Heat and Rook a happy ending as they had got married and had started a family. I dedicated the book to 'To all the people I met and worked with in the NYPD who are making a difference to peoples lives.'

The launch party was done in style with many of the city's elite attending. My friend Mayor Bob Weldon who was in his final term as Mayor, was there, along with the Police Commissioner and Captain Gates from the 12th precinct. As was Lanie, Espo and Ryan, the one notable absence was Kate.

Over the next couple of years or so I continued to write but I left behind mystery novels and turned to serious literature, my first attempt came out about eighteen months after the last Nikki Heat and much to my relief was a success, this led to another eight week book signing tour.

When I returned from this tour I decided to take a month off in the Hamptons, I invited Alexis and mother to go along with me, before starting on my next book for which I already had an idea. It was to be a historical novel set around the time of the Pilgrim Fathers.

As I was packing for the Hamptons I received a phone call from Ryan, he said "We have finished a case and we're having the usual drinks to celebrate, how about joining us?" As it was sometime since I had seen the gang I thought why not. We arranged to meet at 8.0clock at the Old Haunt. When I arrived the rest of them were already there including Lanie and Jenny, Ryan's wife, along with Captain Gates. About an hour later Jo Martinez and Henry Morgan joined us. It was quite sometime since I had seen them last and we got chatting. Jo asked me whether I had any contact with Kate since we split up. I replied "No I haven't seen or spoken to her for over three and a half years." Jo didn't say anything further on the subject but she did give me a knowing look. The conversation moved on to other things after that and we all enjoyed the rest of the evening.

One evening about four months after having met Jo and Henry, I was sat at home when the phone rang, when I looked at the caller identity it showed 'Unknown' and just a phone number. I answered the call and was surprised when I heard Jo say "Rick?"

I replied "Hello Jo. Yes this is he, how can I help you." I was expecting her to ask if I knew how to contact Kate as they had been best friends at the Police Academy.

Instead she said. "How are things going with you Rick?"

I replied "Pretty good at present, I am about three quarters of the way through my next book which I am hoping will be published around the beginning of November in time for the Christmas period."

Jo said "That sounds great Rick. You are probably wondering why I am phoning you? The reason is, and I know this might seen a little cheeky, but Henry and I are having a dinner party on Saturday and one of my friends had just broken up with her boyfriend and it has meant that we will be sitting down to dinner with thirteen people at the table, and I was wondering whether you would be available to make up the even number. We would love you to be there.

I told her "Jo I would be honoured to help out a beautiful lady like yourself with such a problem. What time would you like me there?

Jo said "Around 7.30 to 8.0clock would be perfect."

On the Saturday I attended the dinner party and had a very enjoyable time, The woman who had broken up with her boyfriend didn't seem too distressed by the split. As I left I thanked Jo and Henry for the invite and said that the food had been so delicious I would be available at anytime to fill a space.

I went off to the Hamptons the following afternoon with Alexis and my mother, and we enjoyed a very relaxing month away.

On the Saturday after I returned home I decided to have an evening off and to go to The Old Haunt to check out how things were going there. As I walked in I noted even at 9.0clock that it was quite full. I walked up to the bar and sat on one of the stools, Mickey one of the barmen working that evening came up to me and said "Hi boss, what can I get you?"

I said. "Evening Mickey, I'll have a double Bushmills on the rocks please." When I had been sat there for about an hour a tall blond woman aged about 35 sat down next to me, I glanced at her and noted that she looked as though she had lost a dollar and found ten cents. We got to talking and I found out she was called Jennifer Black and that her Partner of two years had recently walked out on her for another woman. Over the remainder of the evening we discussed a range of things from books to TV and Film, I found out she was a Si-Fi buff like myself. Before either of us realised it, it was midnight and we both decided that we had enough for one night and it was time to go home. As we got outside I hailed a cab for her, as she got in I said "I have really enjoyed myself this evening can I see you again?"

She replied "You mean like a date?"

To which I said "Yes I suppose I do, how does next Thursday evening sound? We could go for something to eat and then go to the Angelica as they are showing ' _Forbidden Planet'_ all next week"

She said that she would like that very much and we arranged to meet at Remy's at 7. to go to the 9.0clock showing of the film.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Divorce**

 **Chapter 5**

 **Kate's P.O.V.**

When I met up with Jo that evening I had booked a table for two at Q3, my friend Maddie Queller's restaurant, I had been lucky to get a table as the restaurant was normally fully booked for at least a month in advance. As it happened when I had phoned to try and book they had just had a cancellation and were please to reserve the table for me. When we arrived we were met by a very effusive Maddie whom I had not seen for about ten years, she remembered Jo from when we were both at the Academy, and she had been at catering school, we had on several occasions all gone out for a girls night out. After catching up on the gossip she showed us to our table and called over a waitress with our menu's, I asked Maddie to choose for us after confirming that Jo was OK with this.

Whilst we were waiting for our meal Jo asked me how things had gone in Washington. I told her "The job was not what I had expected when I had interviewed for the post. I had expected that I would be in a similar position to the one I had just given up at the 12th instead it turned out I was lower in the career structure and had to try and quickly work my way back up to even be near the position I was in when I left the NYPD. After two years I was given my own team but they were all inexperienced agents who I had to train up. This of course meant that the cases we were given were all the routine investigations that had been bypassed by the more experienced teams. I also told her that when I was with the NYPD I had been able to expect the guilty to be prosecuted and the innocent set free. In Washington however this wasn't necessarily the way things would go. I said that the whole thing had been brought to a head when the CIA had tried to blackmail an innocent young woman into working undercover for them against the Russian Mafia which would have put her into great danger. I told her that as far as I was concerned this was the final straw for me and had forced me into resigning.

At this point our meal was served and we both dug in periodically letting out moans of satisfaction. When we had finished Maddie came over to us and we told her how much we had enjoyed the meal.

Over coffee Jo told me that Henry Morgan and her had got engaged, I had seen an engagement ring on her finger, but for some reason had assumed it was probably the one that Sean had given her. I gave her my very best wishes and asked her to give my congratulations to Henry. I also asked Maddie if I could purchase a bottle of champagne for her. Jo told me that she had sat the Captains examination and had passed and she was expecting the promotion and her placing to be confirmed the following day.

She then asked about Rick. I told her that I hadn't seen or spoken to him since the divorce which was going on for nearly four years since, I told her that she probably knew as much about him as I did from what appeared in the papers. Jo looked at me with one of the looks she normally reserved for people she is interrogating in the box and said "You're still in love with him aren't you?" I couldn't deny that she was correct as she had always been able to read my tells I replied "Yes Jo I'm afraid that I am." I told her that I had over the last few years dated a few men mainly at the insistence of Lanie but had never met anyone who I had any desire to see again after the first date.

Jo told me then that she and Henry had visited the Old Haunt about six to seven months since with the 12th Homicide team who had been in celebrating closing a case and that Rick had been with them. She said that they had talked to him and he had said that although he was being pictured on Page 6 again it was meaningless as it was all in the name of publicity and was being set up by Gina and Paula, in fact he had said he felt that he was getting too old to be a playboy. He had said that he had been pictured with one of the Page 6 girls on a couple of occasions but this was because time had been short for the 'evil twins' to fix up a different girl. Jo went on to say "Although he didn't say it in as many word as you just did I think he may still be in love with you." At this my heart skipped a couple of beats as I wondered if there may just be a very faint chance of us getting back together if we met again.

After that we changed the subject to job prospects with the NYPD and I asked her what she thought my chances might be of getting back or whether I should perhaps start to look at another career path. She was of the opinion that it might be worth my while looking into getting back and suggested that I ring up 1PP to enquire.

At about 11.0clock we decided to call it a day and I called for the check, which I paid under protests from Jo, I told her it was my treat this time. As we were waiting outside for a taxi she invited me to dinner with Henry and her a week on Saturday which I gladly accepted.

I didn't telephone One Police Plaza until the following Monday, as I wanted a bit of time to think over seriously whether I wanted to stay in law enforcement. After much careful thought I decided to phone the personnel department and spoke to the Officer in Charge who told me that there were not many vacancies going at that time but that there was one at the 12th as Lead Detective in the Homicide Department, in other words the position I had left when I had moved to Washington, I was informed that if I got the post I should seriously think about sitting for the Captains examination the following Spring. She asked if I would like her to make an appointment with the Captain at the 12th for me to go in and have a chat, when I agreed to she asked me to hold on and phoned the precinct on another line and got me an appointment for the that Thursday.

On the Thursday morning I entered the elevator of the 12th precinct and pressed the button for the Homicide department on the 4th floor, when I exited I was greeted with a number of wary looking faces as people obviously still thought I was with the Feds. I walked down to the Captains office and knocked on the door and was greeted with what sounded like a very familiar voice asking me to come in, as I entered I was greeted by the smiling face of Jo Martinez.

I said. "Hi Jo, WHAT are you doing here?"

She replied. "Hello Kate, I have just taken over this week as Captain."

I said. "That seems a bit of a rush doesn't it."

Jo said "It probably is but this seat has been vacant for a few weeks and 1PP were wanting to get it filled as quickly as possible."

We then went on to discuss the position of on the squad and what it would mean to both of us. I said that for my part I realised that if I did take the post if we were not careful it could lead to a certain amount of friction and awkwardness which I was sure neither of us wanted. Jo agreed and we said that we would try to maintain a good business relationship while at work, whilst remaining friends outside.

Jo said "I can live with that!"

I also said "I have decided that I will be aiming to sit the Captains examination in spring next year."

After we finished talking Jo said "I will advise 1PP that you will be coming back to work as from the 1st of next month."

As I was leaving I said "We are still on for Saturday I take it?"

She replied "Of course, Henry and I are both looking forward to it."

As I lay in bed that night I thought back over my decisions about my career and realised that I had virtually been running on the spot as when I went back to work I would be no further forward in my career than I was when I had taken up the post with the Attorney Generals Task Force. As I fell asleep I thought about the way that Jo had said that she and Henry were looking forward to the meal on Saturday, there was a hint in her voice of something more than it just being a meal and I wondered if she was going to set me up with a blind date.

When Thursday evening came round I was in two minds as to whether or not to bother going to the Angelica, but eventually I persuaded myself that it would make a nice change from just sitting at home with a take out pizza and a DVD, as I wasn't trying to impress anyone I decided I didn't need to Glam myself up. I decided on a Navy Blue V Necked T Shirt and my favourite pair of Stonewashed Skinny Jeans, and finished off with a Denim jacket. On my feet I chose to wear a pair of, for me, low heeled pumps. I put my hair into a high pony tail.

When I arrived at the cinema I found that there was a queue of about 30 - 40 people waiting for the 9.0clock showing. As I looked towards the front of the queue I thought that I saw a familiar figure stood next to a tall blond woman, as I was squinting to see better someone bumped into me and distracted my attention, when I looked back I could no longer see the couple I had been looking at and thought I had probably been mistaken anyway.

By the time I got to the head of the queue the time had reached 9.0clock but I wasn't too bothered because I knew the film itself would not start until after quarter past nine at the earliest. Having purchased my ticket I went to the kiosk selling popcorn and bought a medium sized bucket along with a can of Diet Coke, if there was one thing that Rick had taught me whilst we were together was that popcorn was a necessity when watching a film.

When I went through the doors into the auditorium the house lights had dimmed and after letting my eyes adjust to the darkness for a moment or two I spotted a seat about three rows down and I made my way to it. When I sat down I bent over to put my purse on the floor and eased off my pumps at the same time. What I hadn't spotted until I sat up was that the blond woman I had seen at the head of the queue was sat three seats to my right with her companion being in the next seat, as he was bending over when I looked across I was unable to see him clearly. Just then the opening music of the film rung out and I picked up my tub of popcorn and can of Coke and settled back to enjoy the film for about the tenth time.

As the film finished I slipped my pumps back on with a view to making a quick exit in order to avoid, if at all possible, the mad scramble for the exits, unfortunately this plan didn't work quite as well as I had hoped. As I stood up I heard a very familiar voice, from about four seats away, say "Kate?"

This set my heart racing and a warm glow seemed to envelop me as it was a voice I hadn't heard for over four years it was of course HIS voice, the voice of the only person I had ever fallen totally in love with, I turned slowly and said "Hello Rick how are you?"

He replied "I'm very well how are you?"

To which I replied "Yea I am OK thanks."

Rick said "Sorry this is Jennifer."

I said "Hello Jennifer, I'm Kate one of Rick's ex-wife's.

She said "Nice to meet you I have heard a lot about you from Rick."

My heart sunk a little and I felt a stab of jealousy as I said "Oh have you been dating for sometime?"

She replied "No this was our first date, we met at the Old Haunt last Saturday, I had had a bad week and we just got talking at the bar, we found out we both enjoyed Si-Fi films and arranged to come to this classic."

Rick said at this point "Look we can't talk here, can I phone you sometime so we can meet up for a coffee?"

I said "That would be nice how about one day next week, why don't you give me a ring over the weekend, my number is still the same."

With that I said "Good night Jennifer, it has been very nice to meet you. See you later Rick hopefully next week."

When I got back to my Dads I slipped into the living room and found that he was laid on the couch waiting up for me as he always had done when I was just a teenager.

He greeted me by saying "How was the film, I assume you enjoyed it as much as ever?

I replied "Yes I loved it." I was in two minds as to whether to tell him that I had run into Rick after all this time but decided that I had better so I went on "I also bumped into Rick."

Dad said "How did you feel about that?"

I replied "I don't really know what to say, when I looked at him I still felt that warm glow that I always got whenever we were together. He asked if we could meet up for coffee one day next week and I told him to phone me. Let's just see whether he does and see where we go from there."

The following morning I decided to have a bit of a lay in as it wouldn't be too long before I restarted work and my opportunities for a lay in would quickly deminish. As I came down stairs after my morning shower my cell phone started ringing. Looking at caller display I saw Ricks picture, I had meant to delete his number and contact details but had never got round to doing so.

I was greeted by Rick saying "Hi Kate, its Rick. It was good to see you yesterday evening, I take it you got home safely."

I said "I did. It was nice to see you too. I take it this call is to arrange for the coffee date next week?"

Rick replied "Yes, but I was also hoping you might be free to go out with me for a meal tomorrow evening"

As I was already going to Jo's I replied "I'm really sorry Rick but I can't tomorrow as I have a prior engagement."

He replied that it was OK that he was just pushing his luck and asked whether I was free on Sunday evening

I teased him "Is that instead of coffee?" As I was really looking forward to a coffee with you."

Rick replied "I'm sure I can spring for a meal on Sunday and coffee next week without breaking the bank."

I said "I really would like that Rick."

We agreed that he would pick me up at 7.30pm on Sunday,

After a nice quiet relaxing day on Saturday I went to start getting ready for dinner at Jo's at about 4.45pm. I chose a set of lacy underwear in dark green that I had purchased in Washington just before I resigned from the Task Force. I had decided to wear a lovely Shot Silk Chinese style Sheath dress in dark green that I had only worn once before, with it I decided I would wear a pair of black seamed silk stockings and a pair of dark green 5 inch heel Jimmy Choo shoes. I thought if I am going to impress this blind date, that I thought Jo had set me up with, I would dress the part. Whilst I was getting my clothes ready, my bath was filling and I poured in a generous amount of my favourite bubble bath with the hint of cherries which I had always loved since Rick had nearly swooned over it the first time I had used it..

After laying in the bath for nearly three quarters of an hour I got out and started to get ready. For my make up I decided on a subtle look and wore a pale rose lipstick with just a hint of blusher on my cheeks to emphasis my high cheek bones. I applied my mascara and eyeliner sparingly. When I finished getting dressed I looked at myself in the mirror and thought to myself ' _Beckett you don't look half bad'_ when I went downstairs even my Dad was impressed and said "I almost wish it was me escorting you to-night Katie."

As I was putting on a jacket the cab turned up to take me to Jo's. It was just before 7.00pm as we pulled up outside her house.

When I went in I gave Jo the two bottles of wine that I brought one white and one red as I didn't know what they were going to serve. She then introduced me to her fiancé Henry who I had not yet met as I was in Washington DC when they had first got together. After the introductions Henry said "Can I get you a drink Kate?"

For some reason my mind went back to my semester in Kiev when I had just turned 17, and I remembered the Russian Vodka I had acquired a taste for, I said "I don't suppose you have any proper Russian Vodka have you?" Henry went to the freezer in Jo's kitchen and produced a bottle and proceeded to poured three shot glass's full and we knocked them back in the Russian style in one go he then filled them again and we drunk them off, after that we switched to ordinary glasses.

At a quarter past seven the doorbell rung and Henry went to answer it, I could feel Jo watching me and I thought to myself ' _OK Jo what's going on?'_ I glanced around towards the door and had the shock of m y evening as Rick walked into the room. We both said at the same time "You!" as a swarm of butterflies in my stomach took flight.

I said to him "Why didn't you tell me you were coming here, when we were on the phone this morning?" I then thought _'Stupid question Kate get your brain into gear. if he had known he was coming tonight why would he have rung to ask you out for a meal on the same evening?'_

Rick replied with a cheeky grin on his lips "Because at the time we were talking I didn't know myself that I was, if the woman I was talking to at the time had said yes to dinner this evening I wouldn't be here, but she said she had a previous engagement."

I turned to Jo and said "I had a funny feeling you were setting me up with a blind date, but I didn't for a minute think it was would be this one. I suppose if I had paid closer attention to what you were saying last Tuesday I might have worked it out."

When I looked back at Rick, I noticed that once again we were colour coordinated, as he had on a dark green shirt that was almost a perfect match to my dress.

We sat down to eat just after 8.0clock, and talked about many things we all had a very enjoyable evening, I found Henry to be a very knowledgeable and entertaining raconteur. Before we knew it the time had got round to quarter past one in the morning. I said that I was beginning to wilt after the wine we had consumed and the delicious meal that Henry had prepared and said that my bed was starting to call. Henry phoned for a couple of cabs for myself and Rick. As I was giving Jo a good night hug I whispered in her ear "Thank you for my blind date, I think that hopefully this is one that will get past just one date" Jo replied "I'm pleased that you aren't mad at my subterfuge in trying to start getting you two back together because it is obvious that you belong together. Give me a ring here to let me know how things are going before you start back at the 12th."

Just at that moment both cabs that Henry had ordered, pulled up. I gave Henry a quick good night hug.

As we reached the cabs Rick said I'll give you a ring about our coffee date.

I said "Whoa Buddy, but have you forgotten that we have a dinner date for tonight?"

Rick said "I thought you probably wouldn't to go on that date after this evening."

I told him "Rick there is no way I want us to cancel this evening. For one thing I want to talk seriously to you about us, especially after the good time we have just had, as to whether we have any future together as I know one thing I am still in love with you, so don't be late picking me up.

With that as I was about to get into one of the cabs I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before he could recover I got in and went off to my dad's apartment.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Divorce**

 **Chapter 6**

 **Rick's P.O.V.**

 **A/N I still do not own any of these characters.**

It was now over six years since Kate and I had split up and nearly four years since our divorce was finalised. The worst thing about this was that I still missed her. I pretty much blamed myself; and the Anger Management issues I had at that time, for us breaking up.

After the break up I had thrown myself into my career as a writer by taking on more book tours, and setting myself schedules for producing new books. The first writing I did was to end the Nikki Heat series. Although this time I didn't kill off either of the main characters as I had done with Derrick Storm. Once the book was released and the attendant book signing tours finished I made a start on writing my first serious novel which was about a Dynasty in the financial world , this proved to be much easier than I had anticipated as I had been researching this world for a number of years for my own personal finances, and after only eight months I was able to submit the manuscript for final editing, Myself and Black Pawn were hoping it would be published in time to take advantage of the lucrative Christmas trade which we just managed and by Christmas it had reached No.1 in the New York Times Bestseller List. It had been arranged that I would do a book tour in the New Year promoting the novel taking in the East and West Coasts of America along with Mid America, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

When the tour was over my agent was contacted by Universal Studios who were interest in buying the rights to the book to make into a blockbuster film, these film rights were eventually sold for $5,000,000.

For my next novel I decided it would start around the time of the Pilgrim Fathers and follow the progress of one family into the twentieth century. This took me just under fifteen months to complete. After its release again there was the mandatory Book Signing tour.

After the tour I gave myself a month's break before making a start on my third novel which this time was to be set in the West on a cattle ranch and related the story of the family staking their claim and how they grew into one of the most influential families in the Meat industry. I researched the book for three months and then spent the next eight months writing it,

At that time I was once again being featured heavily on Page Six of the newspapers, if what was written had been true all then I wouldn't have had any time or energy for writing. In actual fact I much preferred a nice quiet night in at home watching TV or a movie whilst sipping on a decent glass of wine, or playing Laser Tag with Alexis. I also enjoyed going to watch the Knicks Basketball team with Espisito and Ryan, or defeating them (usually) on one of my many Xbox games. I still met up for Poker nights with James Patterson, Stephen King, and whoever else who was in town that turned up, once a month.

After another book tour, I spent a month away at the Hampton's with Alexis and Mother, On the Saturday night after we returned I had given myself the night off and went to the Old Haunt where I met Jennifer Black a tall leggy blond in her mid thirties who had suffered a bad week and who's spirits were somewhat down, after a very enjoyable evening with her during which I found that she was something of a Si-Fi fan like myself and I invited her to have a meal with me and to go to see _Forbidden Planet_ at the Angelica the following Thursday.

On the Thursday we met at Remy's for Burgers and milk shakes before setting off the cinema. When we arrived about 8.30pm there was already quite a long queue for the film, as we got near the front of the queue, I happened to glance across the road and thought I saw, on the opposite pavement, someone who seemed very familiar, as it was only a quick glimpse I couldn't be sure but I thought it might be Kate. When I looked again however she had disappeared and I thought that my eyes must have been deceiving me.

As we got our tickets I told Jennifer that I would go get a tub of Popcorn, as you can't watch a film without popcorn.

As the house lights dimmed I was aware of a woman sitting down 4 seats away. But when I looked along the row I couldn't see her clearly as she was bending over removing her shoes and settling into her seat. Just then the opening music started up and I turned my attention to the Silver Screen.

At the end of the film I looked to my left just in time to see the woman who had caught my eye stand up and start to make her way along the row to the exit. I said "Kate?"

She turned around at the sound of her name and said "Rick?"

I told her that she was looking good and said that I would really like to talk to catch up on things sometime, then remembering my manners I said "Kate this is Jennifer"

Kate said "Hello Jennifer, I'm Kate one of Rick's ex-wives."

Jennifer said "Hello nice to meet you Kate I've heard a lot about you from Rick."

Kate then asked her whether we had been dating for some time. I noted that her expression was one of disappointment with a shade of jealousy.

Jennifer told her no that was our first date after meeting at the Old Haunt .

I said "Look we can't really talk here can I phone you so we can arrange to meet up for coffee and a catch up chat?"

She said that would be nice and how about one day next week as she would be starting work in the next couple of weeks, she told me her cell number was still the same. With that we said our goodnights and went off home.

The following morning I decided to strike while the iron was hot and I phoned her, I opened the conversation by saying "It was good to see you last evening Kate, I take it you got home OK?"

Kate replied that she had and that she also had been happy to see me and said "I take it this call is to arrange our coffee date next week?"

I said "Well I was hoping you might be available tomorrow evening to go out for a meal with me?"

Kate said "I'm really sorry but I can't tomorrow as I have a prior engagement."

I replied "That's OK I was just pushing my luck. Can we perhaps go out for a meal on Sunday evening instead?"

Kate teased "Is that instead of coffee? Because I was really looking forward to having a coffee with you."

I said "I am sure I can spring for a meal on Sunday evening and a coffee during the week."

Kate said "What time on Sunday do you want me to be ready for?

I said "I'll pick you up at 7.30 if that's OK, what's you address

Kate said "I'm staying at my dad's apartment at the moment, I'm looking forward to Sunday I'll see you then. Bye Rick."

Five minutes after finishing the call, the phone rung, when I looked at the caller ID it said '12th Precinct'.

I picked up the phone and just said "Hello." As I wasn't sure who would be phoning.

Jo Martinez said "Hi Rick how are you? I know this may seem somewhat cheeky, and that I must seem to be just using you, but I am having to do it again would you mind making up the numbers at another dinner party tomorrow evening?"

I replied "Hello Jo how are you and Henry? Yes I can, I was hoping to get a date with someone I met last evening but unfortunately she already had a prior engagement so I am foot loose and fancy free. What time do you want me there and what should I wear?

Jo said "7.15ish and smart casual will be fine"

I said "I'll see you about quarter past seven then." I was just about to hang up when I realised that she was phoning from the 12th so I asked "Jo what are you doing at the 12th?"

Jo replied "I took over as Captain last week Captain Gates has been promoted and posted back to IAD as Deputy Chief."

I said "Congratulations Jo you deserve it, you will have to tell me all about it tomorrow."

On Saturday afternoon I managed to get another chapter completed on my current book which pleased me as I was expecting Gina my publishing editor to be getting in touch with me very shortly to see how things were progressing. By my reckoning I was just over three quarters of the way through it and thought it would take me another six to eight weeks to complete.

At 5.0clock I made my way into my closet to pick out the clothes that I was going to wear that night, I decided on a pair of black slacks, the shirt I picked out was a dark green one that I particularly liked, I wore on my feet a pair of black slip on loafers. I decided not to wear a tie. I finished off with a Navy Blue Blazer. As I was picking out my outfit I had been running a bath which I slipped into and laid back hoping to ease my joints and muscles that had tightened up after a hard session at the gym. I got out about half past six and started to dress for my dinner engagement.

I had thought of calling a town car to take me to Jo's but ended up ordering a cab. I left the Loft at just after 7.00pm, with a good bottle of red wine in my hand, arriving at about 7.20pm.I knocked on the door and it was opened by Jo's fiancé Henry he shook my hand and said "Come on in. Rick" as I entered I thought I caught the scent of cherries for a moment. As I entered the lounge I looked at the couch and was surprised to find I was looking at Kate, we both said in unison "You!" Kate said "Why didn't you tell me you were coming here when we were on the phone this morning?"

I thought strange question to ask and teased her that I hadn't known at the time that I was, otherwise why would I have phoned her to try and get a dinner date with her for tonight.

Looking at her I noticed that we were once again wearing similar colours in clothes.

Henry had prepared a beautiful Roast Beef joint which was cooked to perfection along with all the trimmings. The evening passed off too quickly as we all enjoyed each others company. It was just after 1.00am when Kate tried to suppress a yawn and said that she thought her bed was starting to call her. As we got ready to leave I pulled Jo in for a hug and whispered in her ear "Thank you for this evening Jo my blind dinner date came as a surprise but a very nice one. Next time you will have to come to us, ' _Where did that come from? I wondered'_ Iswiftly corrected myself andsaid. "I mean to the Loft."

Just then the two cabs that Henry had ordered arrived. As I was about to help Kate into her cab I said "It's been a lovely evening Kate. I'll give you a ring either later today or Monday about our coffee date."

Kate said "Whoa Buddy. Have you forgotten we have a Dinner date for tonight?"

I replied "I didn't think you would want to go on that date after this evening."

She then said "Rick there is no way I want us to cancel this evening. For one thing I want to talk seriously to you about us, whether we might have a future together if we were to get back together, as I know one thing I am still in love with you, so don't be late picking me up." She then gave me kiss on the cheek got into her cab and drove off.

I was rather stunned by this exchange as I got into my cab and couldn't stop thinking ' _Kate's still in love with me? I know I love still love her, but is she really serious. I hope we can start to sort things out tonight."_

 **My thanks go out to everyone who has read this story and to those who have made comments whether for or against. I hope you will continue to read this story there will be three more chapters after this one.**


	7. Chapter 7

**The Divorce**

 **Chapter 7**

 **Kate' P.O.V.**

I awoke the following morning at around 9.30am to the smell of fresh coffee and pancakes with bacon. Although I didn't think I would be hungry after the delicious meal that Jo and Henry had prepared last evening the smell coming up from the kitchen was enough to get my gastric juices flowing. I quickly went to the bathroom to get washed and brush my teeth, I got dressed in an old T shirt, that I rarely wore, it had originally been one Rick's; and pair of old jogging pants,

I made my way to the kitchen to be greeted by my Dad who said "Morning Katie how are you on this bright sunny morning, no big hang over I take it?"

I replied "No dad it wasn't that sort of a party."

My Dad asked "Who was there?"

I mumbled "Jo and her fiancé Henry, myself and Rick."

Dad said (tongue in cheek.) "Just repeat that would you, I didn't quite catch what you said, I could swear you said Rick was there."

I replied "Dad you heard perfectly well what I said. Yes Rick was there and we all had a great time. As a matter of fact I have a dinner date with him this evening."

Dad asked "Is that a good idea Katie? You know how things ended six years ago I don't want to see you get hurt again."

I said "To be honest Dad I now realise that I caused a lot of the problems with my selfish attitude and the OCD I was suffering at the time. I have always known since we broke up that I am still in love with him, I guess I was also too selfish to try put things right before it led to the divorce. Since I first saw him again on Thursday at the Angelica I realise that this is one love that is never going to go away, as I once told him when we were talking about marriage in the very early days of our relationship I am a one and done sort of girl, and I have always known since we met that he is the one. Tonight I will be starting again to try and show him that I really do mean it as I try to win him back. Jo told me a week last Tuesday that she thought Rick still loved me, I am hoping against hope she is correct, the last few days have proved one thing to me he doesn't actually hate me."

Dad said "I wish you the best of luck darling, just don't go all in and get hurt so much that you start building those walls again that you built after you left him. Also don't hurt Rick again like you did it wouldn't be fair on him."

I told him "I intend trying to avoid that at all costs. Don't forget I haven't just to convince Rick that I am being sincere I have also to convince Alexis." I thought to myself that she would probably be harder to convince than Rick.

After enjoying breakfast and thanking my Dad for cooking it. I made my way back to my room to decide on what to wear that evening, after a good look through my wardrobe I decided that a little retail therapy was called for. As I didn't want to go alone I gave Jo a ring, I was half thinking of calling Lanie but was still unsure of the reception I would get, and I wasn't in the mood to deal with a pissed off Lanie at the moment, I thought I'll leave that 'wasps nest' until I started back at the 12th.

I met Jo outside Bloomingdales just as they opened. I told her I have a dinner date with Rick that evening but I have nothing to wear, I told her I was looking for something in Red as Rick had always liked me in that colour. We spent a couple of hours looking through the dresses on display until I found the perfect one, which was an off the shoulder one that came down to just above knee height. It was slim fitting and showed off my figure very nicely. The cost was $550.00 but I hoped it would be money well spent.

After this we went to the cafeteria and had a coffee and lunch before going to the shoe department to find some footwear to match the dress, we quickly found a very suitable pair of Red 4 inch heeled Sergio Rossi Pumps costing $430.00.

I decided at that point that my credit card had taken a hard enough knocking for one day.

We shared a cab home, as I got out, I paid the driver, and said to Jo "I'll give you a ring during the week to let you know how we got on tonight and I will see you a week on Monday at the precinct.

When I went in Dad made me a cup of coffee and asked how my day had gone I said I hoped it had been a fruitful one and I was looking forward to his comments regarding my purchases when I had got dressed.

As I finishing my coffee I saw it was time that I went for a shower and started to get ready for my date.

I enjoyed a long hot shower and once again shampooed my hair with the cherry scented shampoo that I knew Rick loved. When I came out of the shower I decided to wear my hair pulled back into a French Knot. I quickly dried it then started to get dressed. I had a set of lacy red underwear that would be ideal under my new dress. I decided not to wear anything on my legs, When I had applied my makeup and got dressed I looked in my mirror and thought ' _Beckett you scrub up well.'_

Just as I got downstairs the doorbell rang and I shouted out "It's OK dad I'll get it."

When I opened the door I was greeted by a bouquet of Red Roses and one Ruggedly Handsome Writer, whose mouth was gapeing open as he took in my appearance. He said "Kate you are without any doubt the most beautiful woman I have ever seen."

I invited him in and took him through to my Dad who confirmed Rick's opinion. I quickly went in search of a vase to put the bouquet of roses in.

When we set off five minutes later Rick ushered me into a Town Car that he had hired for the evening. As we drove off I could feel his eyes devouring my appearance and said to him "Staring is still creepy Rick." He replied "No its not when it's admiring a beautiful work of art and that is what you are." I immediately felt my cheeks start to colour up.

I asked where we were going to eat and said that I hoped it wouldn't be too noisy as I wanted to have that talk that I had mentioned last night. He said we are going to the Scarletta Ristorante which was said to serve the finest Veal dishes in New York.

When we arrived at the restaurant we were shown into the bar as our table wasn't quite ready, Rick asked whether I wanted anything to drink whilst we were waiting I said I wouldn't mind a Vodka and Tonic on the rocks. Rick said he would join me but with a Gin and Tonic.

Just as we were served our drinks our waiter came across and said "Your table is ready sir."

After we had ordered I asked Rick how Alexis was. He said that she was very well and was excelling at Stanford where she was a Pre Med student, and she sent her thanks for her birthday present which she had mentioned when they were Skypeing earlier in the day, I asked him what she was hoping to do when she graduated from medical school. He said that at the moment she was talking about becoming an M.E. However that may change, she had already changed her mind about her speciality three times. I asked him whether she was dating anyone at the moment or whether she was still playing the field. He said that there had been one guy for nearly a year but the romance had eventually fizzled out.

Rick asked me whether I was dating anyone seriously. I told him that since we had split up Lanie had tried to set me up with a number of men but that none of them had lasted past the initial date, I said that she had now given upon me, especially after I had taken the Washington job, this was mainly because of how I had had to leave the 12th so quickly without time for proper goodbyes.

He asked how I had enjoyed being a Fed. I said "If I am really honest I didn't. I had given up my friends in New York. I was having to make compromises in my job that didn't sit easily with me. My career instead of taking a step forward seems to have taken two back, for instance I start back at the 12th next Monday in exactly the same position as I was nearly three years ago My new Captain is my best friend Jo with whom I was at the Academy, Don't feel that I am jealous of her because I'm not. I am now having to study for the Captains examination. Finally I realised what a mess I had made of my personal life when I walked out on you, Alexis and Martha, three of the four people I love most in life." By this time I could feel tears running down my cheeks and I excused myself to go to the rest room to do running repairs on my make up.

When I returned to the table the first course of our meal was being served and we turned our conversation to lighter matters until we had finished our meal.

Over coffee, the conversation went back to the matter in hand. I said "Rick when I insisted on us not cancelling this date. it was because I want us to talk to clear the air with one another." I said "If you don't mind I will go first." I said "As you well know I fell head over heels in love with you at Stanford and came to rely on you as my guiding star, my anchor point. When my mother was killed however something inside of me started to change, I had, although it wasn't really noticeable, started to get obsessive about getting my studies done not only that but I needed to get myself to the top of the gradings. I was able to hide this most of the time but it got worse when I joined the police, being a woman meant that I was usually being put down by my male colleagues and I became obsessive about proving to them that I was one of the best cops on the squad. Then I found my mothers case papers I became even more obsessed with trying to find her killer, eventually I was called out by Captain Montgomery and told I had to stop as these obsession was ruining my health he also urged me to get treatment which I did, though I kept that to myself, this was after we had first started having rows and constant arguments, with the treatment the arguments did stop as I learnt to let go. Soon after however I got promoted to Detective and was the youngest woman ever to do so in the NYPD, again I got obsessive about proving myself and the OCD kicked back in and the rows started again. I left you at that time because I could see the effects we were having on Alexis and each other, I loved that child more than I loved myself, so I did the one thing I have always been good at I walked away. It was soon after that I knew that I needed to get treatment and that when I started it I had to see it through to the end which was something I hadn't done last time. When you petitioned for the divorce I convinced myself that was all I deserved and that is why I did not contest it. The night I received the final papers I cried myself to sleep and did so for the next few weeks."

I went on "When I was approached about the Washington post I jumped at it with my 'eyes wide shut.' Another of my poor judgement calls. I tried to convince myself that I was happy in Washington but I wasn't as I was expected to make too many compromises as I said earlier. When everything came to head a couple of weeks ago and I resigned I felt as though a ton weight had been taken off my shoulders. Getting back to NY has been one of the greatest thing that has happened this year, though actually the best thing was going to the Angelica last week and seeing you for the first time in six years, and last evening of course. I don't know how you feel about all this but I need you to know that I am, and always have been, and always will be in love with you. If there is the slightest chance I want us to make a try at getting back together so that we both can feel whole again."

When I finished Rick suggested that we go back to the Loft to continue our talk which I thought was a good idea as it was getting towards closing time for the restaurant. Rick quickly paid.

When we got back to the Loft Rick poured us both a glass of wine and we settled down on his couch to continue our talk, he told me how the situation leading upto the divorce and afterwards had affected him especially my OCD which in turn had led to his anger management problems, he admitted that he had eventually gone into therapy himself to learn how to control things, he also told me that the playboy image that I had been seeing in the papers was certainly not him anymore.

Our discussion lasted through to about 4.0clock and I said I had better get back to my dad's. Rick offered me the use of the guest room but I said "Thanks Rick but that might not be a good idea tonight!" He called me a cab, and said he would text me tomorrow about a coffee date probably on Tuesday. I thought to myself _'That would be good as it would give both of us time to think over everything that had been said tonight.'_ As I was getting into the cab he quickly kissed me on the cheek. My brain went into overdrive from this remembering how his lips felt on mine and wishing they were there now.


	8. Chapter 8

**The Divorce**

 **Chapter 8**

 **Ricks P.O.V.**

 **Disclaimer I do not own these characters. I just wish I did.**

The following morning I woke up just after 10.0am and carefully moved my head to test for a hang over and was very relieved to find I didn't have one. I just had this weird feeling inside that I hadn't experienced for many a long year, in fact it felt very much like the feeling I had got at 16 when I had arranged a date with the Prom Queen. I knew for sure that I wasn't going on a date with a Prom Queen but did have one arranged with my ex-wife Kate Beckett. I wondered to myself how she was feeling not like a Prom Queen that was for sure as she hadn't gone to her Prom choosing to go instead to a Poetry Slam.

At that point I thought the first order of business was a coffee and something to eat. I quickly got up and went to the bathroom to get washed and brush my teeth, I decided to forego a shower as I would be having one before my date.

Whilst I was waiting for my coffee to percolate and toast to be ready, I decided to give Jo and Henry a ring to thank them for last evening, the phone however went straight to voicemail so I left a message.

Once I had finished my second coffee of the day and read the Ledger, I was pleased to see that for once I was not featured on Page 6, I needed to talk to Alexis, so I sent a text asking her to meet me on Skype. After about five minutes she replied that she was on line and I quickly connected up.

When I opened the Skype app, I greeted her saying "Hi Pumpkin it's good to see you, how are you and how are your preparations for your exams coming along?"

Alexis replied "Hi Dad, I'm fine a bit tired from all the revision but am taking today off to go out with some friends we are going to go down to the beach and hopefully get some surfing in."

I said "That sounds like a lot of fun, I wish I could be there to join you, it's a long time since I went surfing."

Alexis said "I didn't know you could surf, Dad."

I replied "I learnt when I was at Stanford too."

I went on "Er Pumpkin, I have something to tell you and I don't know how you are going to feel about it, don't start shouting before you hear me out OK?"

Alexis said "OK, what have you done now?"

I started by saying "I saw Kate on Thursday evening at the Angelica when we both went to see _'Forbidden Planet'_ I was there with a date and she was by herself. We got talking and I invited her out for a coffee. However the story doesn't end there. On Friday I thought I would really like to see her on a proper date so I phoned her and invited her out for a meal last night which unfortunately due to a prior engagement she couldn't make. So I asked her out for tonight."

At this point Alexis interrupted "So you're telling me that you are going out with Kate, the woman who just about broke your heart six years ago?"

I replied "Yes. However that isn't the whole of the story, about 5 minutes after putting the phone down I got a call from Jo Martinez, I don't know whether you remember Jo she was Kate's best friend when they were both at the Police Academy, asking if I could make up the numbers at a dinner party they were holding last night, she had asked me to do the same thing a couple of months ago, Knowing how good the company was, along with the food that they serve, I accepted. Well the upshot was that she was trying a bit of matchmaking as the only people there were Jo and her fiancé Henry Morgan, myself and Kate. When we were leaving I gave Kate the opportunity to back out of our date tonight by saying that I would phone her to arrange a coffee date. She didn't take me up on this saying that she wanted us to talk, in particular about our relationship."

Alexis asked "How do you really feel about her Dad?"

"Lexi." I said "I have realised in the last couple of days that I am still in love with her, I want us to look at getting back together sooner or later, preferably sooner, whilst I do not going to rushing headlong into it I would like to think that by this time next year we might well be back together as a family. Tonight is just the start of things but I hope that it will lead to bigger things. I hope you are OK with this."

Alexis replied "Of course I am I just wanted to make sure that you have thought things through. When you see her tonight give her my love and tell I said thank you for my birthday present."

I said "OK, but I didn't know that she was sending you birthday presents.

She replied "Oh yes, every year since she left."

I said "I had better go and let you meet your friends, have a good time surfing and be careful."

Alexis replied "Thanks Dad Love you . Enjoy your date and listen carefully to what Kate has to say."

I closed down Skype and went to make another coffee.

Soon afterwards Mother arrived home doing her walk of shame.

I greeted her saying "Hello Mother do you want a coffee, how was your night out?"

She said "Yes please, fine. How was yours?

I said that I had had a perfect evening out at Jo's dinner party and guess who was there."

Mother turned round and said "Kate."

I looked at her surprised and asked "How do you know that?"

She replied "Because I have just got off the phone with her."

I asked "How long have you two been phoning one another?

Martha said "We never stopped, I look on and love that girl as the daughter I never had."

I said "I suppose you also knew that she has been sending Alexis birthday presents ever since she left?"

Mother replied "Of course I do as she always sent them care of me because she wasn't sure that you would approve and thus withhold them from Alexis."

I said "I would never have done that." But I wondered whether I might have when she had first left because of my anger issues.

With that I went into my office to try and do a few hours writing, before getting ready for our date.

At 6.0clock I decided it was time to stop writing and start getting ready, I went into my closet and decided to wear my new Navy Blue Armani suit along with a light blue shirt and a dark maroon necktie, on my feet I would have Navy Blue socks and black Oxford shoes.

After a nice hot shower I got dressed, as I reached the bottom of the stairs there was knock on the front door to announce that the town car I had ordered had arrived, Earlier in the day I had purchased a bouquet of one dozen perfect red roses, I picked these up and we set off to pick up Kate from her fathers apartment.

When I knocked on the door it was opened by Kate who looked absolutely stunningly beautiful in a red off the shoulder dress. She invited me in and I handed her the roses and told her "Kate you are without doubt the most beautiful woman I have ever seen."

She went to look for a vase to put the roses in whilst I chatted to her Dad.

When we got in the car I couldn't help just looking at her. Kate said "Rick stareing is still creepy." I replied "No it's not when admiring a very beautiful work of art, and that is what you are." She immediately started to colour up which I thought adorable.

When we arrived at the restaurant and had been seated we chatted about things in general, I remembered to pass on Alexis' thanks for her birthday present. I asked how she had enjoyed being a Federal Agent and she admitted that she hadn't really enjoyed it as much as she had been expected to having had to make a lot of compromises which didn't sit well with her, now she was back in N.Y. she realised that she was back in a position she had been in three years ago, her new Captain to be was her best friend. She had also messed up her personal life, by not taking into consideration the feelings of her family and friends. By this time she had tears running down her cheeks and excused her self to go to the rest room to freshen up her make up.

When she got back to our table the first course of our meal was just being served and we talked about trivial things whilst both of us enjoying the meal.

When we had finished and coffee had been served we resumed our conversation Kate asked if she could speak about her thoughts first, she said she had fallen deeply in love with me at Stanford, but that when her mother was killed something had started to change for her as she started to get obsessive about different thing such as her grades at university, although she had been able to hide her feelings. Once she joined the police however things started to get worse as she was in a mostly male environment and she had felt she had to prove she was as good as, if not better than, her male colleagues. She also said that she had found her mothers murder file and had become obsessed about trying to solving the murder which was when we first started rowing, eventually her Captain had called her out and she had managed with the help of therapy to stop. Things had been OK from then until she got promoted to Detective and her OCD had kicked in again as she had felt she needed once again to prove that she was worthy of the promotion, especially as she was the youngest ever woman to be promoted to detective in the NYPD, and she had felt the need to show that she was as good as, if not better than most of her male colleagues. This was when we had started arguing again and she had moved out because she was scared of the effect our rows were having on Alexis as she loved her much more that she loved herself. She then started treatment again for OCD and this time made sure she finished the treatment.

She told me that when the Washington job had been offered she had jumped at it without thinking things through properly. She said that she had endured it for nearly three years and had put up with the compromises she had had to make but in the last few weeks had realised the she was not happy, as soon as she had resigned it felt as though a ton weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She then said that getting back to N.Y. had seemed the greatest thing that had happened to her this year, except it wasn't, going to the Angelica last Thursday and seeing me then going to Jo's yesterday evening on our 'Blind Date' was the best thing for her in the last twelve months. She said that she knew that she was and had always been, in love with me. She went on to say if there is the slightest chance she wanted us to get back together so that she could feel complete again.

To say I was stunned with what she had said was something of an understatement. I told her "Kate I obviously have things I need to say to you, how about we get out of here and go back to the Loft and talk some more?

She replied "Yes we had better go anyway before we outstay our welcome. The Loft sounds fine to me."

When we arrived back at the Loft I asked if she wanted a drink Kate said "A glass of wine would be nice, thank you.".

When I brought the wine we both sat on the couch facing one another

I said "After what you said at the restaurant I had better tell you my feelings. Like you I think, no that's not right, I know I that I have stayed in love with you and have missed you every day. When we met that first night at Stanford it was one of the most magical nights of my life, although you probably don't think so up to that time I would never have thought of approaching a beautiful girl like you and trying to get a date, you were so far out of my league. However when I saw you brush off those other boys, then looking bored go towards the front door, I thought what the hell she can only tell me to go away so I grabbed two bottles of beer and followed you, for some reason we seemed to hit it off and as they say the rest is history. However for all the first year we were together I was expecting that each day would be the last. When we got to Christmas and did the introduction to the families I thought we have cracked it. The next year passed in a blur and when I proposed at Christmas I felt we were destined for life. Then of course your Mom was killed and things started to change very slowly, Over the first two years while you were at N.Y.U. it wasn't too noticeable, but once you started at the Academy your OCD really started to kick in as you pushed to be the best, it continued in your first two years on the force and I started to begin feeling that Alexis and I were being sidelined which started to annoy me and I felt we longer mattered to you which increased my anger and I started lashing out, I know I said some horrible things to you especially when I accused you of having an affair with Mike Royce. When you gave up your obsession over your mother's murder and started coming back to be the person I had first met and fallen in love with I was relieved and thought we were getting back on track. Then we were back to square one when you were promoted to detective and we started rowing again, I think a lot of this was because as well as the anger issues I had I was also insecure and couldn't understand how I was married to such a beautiful woman as you. When you eventually walked out on us it proved to my psyche that I didn't deserve you.

I hoped when you left that it would only be a couple weeks before you came back home The weeks stretched into months and then to a year and that was when I decided that it was time to end the marriage. The day I received the confirmation the marriage had been ended, I also cried myself to sleep, this was the first time that had happened since my maternal grandfather had died. The next two to three years are somewhat blurred, not from drinking or anything like that, but due to the constant writing, book launches and book signing tours along with the publicity appearances. As you will have seen Gina and Paula were once again pushing my image as a playboy, in actual fact I think I only saw 4 of the girls more than once and that was only because there wasn't enough time for them to arrange a different girl between two appearances, I tried on numerous occasions to tell the 'Evil Twins' that I was too old for the playboy image but they chose to ignore it. .

I said "When I saw you at the Angelica walking towards the exit I could hardly believe my eyes, and had to call out to you. When Jennifer told you that she had heard a lot about you she probably wasn't exaggerating as I do tend to talk about you to anyone who will listen. When you agreed to me phoning for a coffee date I had to try and turn it into a dinner date. My thanks go to Jo and Henry for bringing us together last night.."

We continued talking until about 4.0clock when Kate said she had better get back to her dads. I offered her the use of the guest room but she declined saying it might not be a good idea that night. I told her I would text her about meet on Tuesday for coffee, as that would give us a day or so to think over everything that had been said.

As she got in the cab taking her home I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, I noticed that a shudder seemed to run down her body and I felt a tingling in my lips at the contact.

 **A/N I would like to thank everyone who has been following this story and everyone who have sent reviews. There is just one more chapter to go before we reach the end.**


	9. Chapter 9

**The Divorce**

 **Chapter 9**

 **Together**

It was late on Monday afternoon before Rick could send off a text to Kate about their coffee date as he had been called into Black Pawn by Gina and Paula to discuss the launch and a book signing tour for his next novel which was due out at the end of the following month. Gina wanted him to agree to a two month book signing tour which would start in New York then criss-cross the country to the west coast. After that the tour would go to Japan and China followed by New Zealand and Australia then across to South Africa and up into Europe, the details of the cities to be covered hadn't been fully finalised yet, and finishing off in New York.

Rick would have the previous year accepted this with a minimum of fuss, but this year it looked as though things in his personal live might well be changing for the better, the problem was he didn't want Gina and Paula to know anything about this at the moment as he didn't want to jeopardise any possibility of Kate and him getting back together, so he prevaricated and asked for the rest of the week to think about it and to talk to his family, he promised to speak to them again on the following Monday.

As he got back to his car he sent off a text to Kate saying.

 **Kate. Sorry for the delay in sending this, have been stuck in a meeting with the Evil Twins all day. Can we meet tomorrow about 12.00 at our usual Starbucks for a coffee? RC xxx**

After about ten minutes his phone buzzed to let him know he had a reply, when he opened it he read.

 **Rick, I was beginning to worry that you had changed your mind. I'll see you at Starbucks at noon and you can tell me all about your meeting. See you tomorrow KB xxx**

When he got home he prepared dinner for himself, and his mother. He knew he would be getting the third degree about yesterday evenings date with Kate. Sure enough as soon as dinner was finished his mother started questioning him, What had Kate worn? Where did they go for their meal and what did they have to eat? Those were the easy questions, what he wanted to avoid at the moment was what they had talked about, obviously the conversation would have centred on them, Rick didn't want to commit himself to answering her questions on this just yet as he wasn't 100% sure of how Kate felt. He knew that he wanted to commit to her. Did she really as she had said want to do the same to him?"

Meanwhile at Jim Beckett's apartment Kate sat on the couch in his living room with a cup of coffee staring sightlessly at the TV her mind was a million miles away as she thought over everything that had been said the previous evening. She thought that she had been fully open with Rick, leaving him to have no doubts about her sincerity in wanting them to reconcile.

She knew that she had probably got at least one ally in the Rodgers/Castle family in Martha who she had, ever since her mothers death, looked upon as a second mother and had tried to keep in contact with her regularly since she and Rick had split up. With Alexis she wasn't quite as sure, but thought she could count on her support, she had whenever possible tried to attend her schools extra curricular activities and she still liked to think of herself as a substitute mother to the young woman.

After a time she realised that apart from the lovely meal she had enjoyed last evening she hadn't had anything else to eat, apart from a slice of toast and butter. She therefore decided that she had better think about preparing a meal for her and her dad, looking through the cupboard she saw that there were the ingredients for one of her Lasagnes. The meal was in the oven when her dad got back at about 7.0clock.

Jim walked in saying "Hi Katie bug how was your day?"

Kate said "I have just been lounging around as it was almost quarter to five this morning when I got home after talking to Rick."

Jim said "How did that go?"

Kate replied "Very well, we cleared the air between us about many things. I have spent today considering everything that was said both by me and by him and have reached the conclusion that we are both wanting to be together but it may take a while for everything to fully mesh together, anyway we are meeting again tomorrow lunch time for coffee and to talk about things further then."

At that moment the smell of a cooking lasagne caught her attention and she remembered that she hadn't yet put any garlic bread in the oven, she did that straight away and twenty minutes later her father and her were enjoying a lovely meal, they kept their talk for the rest of the evening off Rick.

The following morning Kate arrived at Starbucks just as Rick pulled up in his brand new red Jaguar XE S which had all the extras. He had first seen this model on a TV advert whilst in England on his last book tour and knew he had to have one. Kate thought what a beautiful shade of red it was and that it would match the dress she had worn on Sunday night perfectly.

As Rick got out of the car she walked up to him and said "Hey Babe, _She thought to herself_ ' _Did I just call him babe?"_ love your new car, can we go for a ride in it after lunch?"

Rick was thinking to himself _"Did Kate just call me Babe?"_ he said "Sorry what did you say"

Kate told him and he said that he would love to have her go for a drive with him in it.

As they entered the coffee shop Rick said "Usual coffee? Do you want anything to eat with it?"

Kate said "I would love one of those Ham Salad Wraps"

Rick went to the counter and ordered a Grand Skimmed Latte with two pumps of sugar free Vanilla and an Espresso for himself along with two Ham Salad Wraps.

Whilst eating they talked about the previous evening, and found that they were both on the same page about getting back together, they both wanted it and neither of them was really wanting to take things slowly as they agreed for two people who were in love they had already spent far too long apart. both of them admitted that they wanted to be together as soon a possible.

When they had finished lunch they went out to the Jaguar, and to show how much trust he had in her Rick handed over the starter fob and said "You drive."

Kate looked at him in awe and said "Are you sure? This is a brand new car"

He grinned and said "If I can't trust a police trained driver with my new car who can I trust? You won't usually let me drive anyway!"

Kate hastily got into the driving seat and started the engine before he could change his mind. When she had got used to the feel of the car she let the speed build up and had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. When they arrived back at her father's apartment building she said "Wow I haven't had such a fun afternoon since I can't remember when. Do you want to come up for a coffee?

Rick replied. "That would be lovely, thanks."

As they were sat on the couch enjoying their coffees, Kate's father arrived home and said "Hey Katie, Hello Rick I was wondering who that beautiful car outside the front door belonged to."

Kate said "It's Rick's new car, Isn't it fabulous?"

Soon afterwards Rick decided it was probably time to leave as Alexis was due to Skype him in the next hour or so to let him know how her weekend had gone, and he didn't want to miss her. Kate walked him down to the car and on impulse kissed him tenderly on the lips. When they pulled apart Rick said "I'll phone you later on."

After this date they started seeing each other everyday.

When Paula phoned Rick that evening about the book tour he had told her. "Paula whilst I will agree to tour for two months I want the tour to be split into at least two parts as I don't want to be away for that length of time all at once."

Paula said "Why not?"

Rick replied "Because of changes that hopefully will be taking place in my personal life."

Paula asked "What things?

Rick said without thinking "Kate…..." He immediately thought to himself _'Bugger I didn't mean to say anything about Kate yet. Perhaps she won't pick up on what I just said.'_

No such luck, as soon as the word was out of his mouth Paula said "Who is Kate?" as the only Kate she knew of in Rick's life was his ex-wife.

Rick was acting rather like s deer caught in headlights as he tried to think how he could get out of this one, he eventually came to the conclusion that honesty was the best policy so he owned up and said "My ex-wife, Kate. We have decided to sort ourselves out and to get back together.

Paula thought to herself ' _Gina is just going to love this, as it's going to completely ruin the playboy image we have been trying to cultivate whilst he has been single.'_

She said to Rick "Let me run this past Gina tomorrow and I will phone you about this time, to let you know what has been decided."

Rick realised he still hadn't told Kate about the book tour and decided that now was as good a time as any and so he phoned her straight away and told how things were at that point, naturally she wasn't very happy but she did say she understood especially when he told her he was hoping to split it into at least two separate tours, thinking back Kate remembered the catch up sex they had enjoyed when he came home after each tour and thought to herself that is one tradition that they would be definitely reviving.

The next evening Paula rung Rick back and told him that Gina had reluctantly agreed to the tour being split one half before Christmas and the other after.

That weekend, which was the last before Kate went back to work on the Monday, they were sat on the couch at the loft when Rick looked at her and said "Lets get married next Saturday." Kate looked at him and said "Are you serious?

To which Rick replied "I've never been more serious in my life. I love you and as far as I know you love me. I can't see any reason for us to wait any longer can you?"

Kate told him "I would love to get married next weekend, but you will have to do most of the arranging apart from getting the wedding outfit, as I will be back at work this next week."

Rick said "Leave everything to me."

On the Monday morning Kate started back at the 12th. When she went into see Captain Jo Martinez "She said Detective Beckett reporting for duty."

Jo said "Hi Kate it's good to see you back, how are you?

Kate replied "I'm great. I have one favour I want to ask of you. Are you and Henry doing anything on Saturday?"

Jo said "Nothing apart from the weekly shopping, why?

Kate said "Rick and I are getting married that day and I would love you to be my Maid of Honour."

Jo immediately jumped up from her desk grabbed Kate in a big hug and said "Of course I will. Which is rather funny because I was about to ask you to be my Maid of Honour when Henry and I get married at the end of next month."

Kate said "You're on I would be honoured."

That week was a very busy one for Rick organising the wedding and reception they had agreed to restrict the number of guests to about 50 and he had to contact them all either in person or by text or email. He arranged for the wedding to be held at the same church as they had used for their original wedding ceremony, it was to take place at 2.00pm followed by a reception at the Waldorf Astoria. the catering was to be arranged by Maddie Queller. He arranged for the florist where he had bought most of the bouquets and floral arrangement over the years, once again to supply the bouquets and button holes. He also asked Alexis to act as his Best Man,

When Saturday came round it proved to be a bright sunny day and the wedding went off without any hitches. Kate wore an elegant cream trouser suit that showed off her slim figure to perfection. The couple had each written out their vows which when they recited them brought tears to a number of the guests eyes.

After the wedding meal the couple took to the dance floor to dance the first dance to Y _ou're in my Veins._ Everyone who watched them do the dance agreed that they were watching a couple who were utterly and deeply in love with one another and who would stay together _ALWAYS._

 **The End.**

 **A/N Thank you to everyone who has followed this story over the last nine weeks, and especially to everyone who has reviewed whether good (which is the majority) or bad. I promise to try and improve in any future stories.**


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